Big Coal successfully lobbied the EPA not to consider potential greenhouse gas emissions when approving applications for new coal plants. The decision was yet another one issued by Bush flunkie Stephen Johnson in defiance of the advice of career regulators.

Environmentalists fear that the decision will clear the way for quick and dirty approval of a handful of new coal-fired power plants in the waning days of the Bush administration. And that’s exactly what Big Coal is counting on. Once the plants are operational, they can begin lobbying against the carbon capture that they themselves have been touting in order to get the plants approved.

(By the way, notice that the NY Timesarticle quotes Bruce Nilles, who has a reader blog here on SFGreen.)

This is a startlingly clear example of the Bush administration’s willingness to throw the public to the wolves in order to give some plum parting gifts to its friends in industry. Shouldn’t some article of the constitution protect us from laws that are so flagrantly contrary to public interest?